Bitter Roots, Sweet Fruit: A History of Schools in Collingwood, Abbotsford and Clifton Hill by Karen T Cummings

Description “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet”, Aristotle, 384BC – 322BC This lavishly illustrated book is a survey which aims to identify and locate every school that has ever existed in the area covered by the former City of Collingwood, compriging the suburbs of Abbotsford, Collingwood and Clifton Hill. It also places the schools within the Melbourne and Victorian educational context as well as within the wider context of Collingwood society. “Many of us want to believe that education in its best sense is there to serve the whole society, not to seek privileges for the few or choices that will serve only some. However, when it comes to schooling, how our ideal world works out is not so straightforward. The Common Good maybe suppressed and what is best for the individual put in competition with what is best for all. From this study we can add to our understanding of how the Common Good may be realised. Because this study takes account of state-run schools, church-run, community-run and privately-run schools, the picture that emerges is more real and less partial that most of the histories of education we have relied on to date.” Lorna Hanna, Chair, Hotham History Project. ISBN 9780957772717 Collingwood Historical Society Category Winner of the Victorian Community History Awards 2009